


A Single Glance

by spacemonkey



Category: Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2014-12-11
Packaged: 2018-03-01 01:32:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2754575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacemonkey/pseuds/spacemonkey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the war begins, so does Castiel</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Single Glance

**Author's Note:**

> Written in early 2009. Really, it's pre Destiel.

When the war begins, so does Castiel.   
  
He is chosen, and Castiel does not know why, but he follows blindly, as he always has. He leaves Heaven, he leaves his home, and he follows his orders.  
  
Castiel does not fear Hell. Walking among the lost souls, the screams and the fire, and Castiel feels nothing. He looks at the man, another lost soul, blank and covered in human filth, and he doesn’t feat the weapon the man holds – Dean, his mind insists, Dean Winchester, son of John and Mary, brother to Samuel, and the reason Castiel has journeyed. He doesn’t fear the weapon in Dean’s hand; he fears his own touch against Dean.  
  
He’s frightened to touch him, to bear his mark on human skin. Dean is fragile; bones that could snap with a pressured grasp, and skin that will burn.  
  
Fear is strange to Castiel. It sweeps over him, through his being as if a breeze had followed him downwards, and fear is new.  
  
He reaches out despite his fear, and Dean fights him and loses. His skin burns, and Dean screams and thrashes, and Castiel continues on, his grip tight. He remembers, even as Dean shows pain, that he grasps only at a soul, not flesh that will bruise and scar.   
  
The corpse is rotting and Castiel pieces it together until it resembles a body, and he goes further, until it is perfection. He places Dean’s soul in between the folds of skin and muscle and bone, and only then does Castiel release his hold on Dean’s shoulder. The skin is angry beneath Dean’s clothing, and Castiel does not heal it, even though he can and should. He leaves before Dean can awaken, and tells his brothers of his success.   
  
 _Dean Winchester is saved_.  
  
 _Speak with him_ , the response comes, and Castiel does so. The glass shatters and Dean screams, and Castiel stops, puzzled and fearful. Dean is fragile now, and he should not break him.  
  
He waits, patiently for Dean to strengthen, and he watches. Dean seems to have forgotten, and Castiel is thankful. He’s stronger on Earth, and he’s perfect. He watches Dean, sees him with his brother, with the woman with raven hair, and Castiel feels pained when the woman is left sightless. Though he did warn her.  
  
Castiel speaks again, once Dean has rested and is alone, and he doesn’t stop until Dean’s ears start to bleed, because surely the human is special.  
  
He’s wrong. Castiel strays, hopeful that he didn’t damage Dean’s body permanently, and searches for another solution.  
  
The man prays for redemption, for guidance, for purpose. Castiel answers, wears his skin in a way that suffocates him.  
  
“What is happening?” the man, the vessel says from within.  
  
“You are safe, my child,” Castiel tells him.  
  
Castiel  _lies_ , and it shapes him.  
  
The world stings with its brightness, glaring hues that dance across his vision in white spots and narrowed lashes. The vessel sleeps within, and Castiel waits. He doesn’t have to wait long.  
  
Dean is fragile still, and Castiel wonders if perhaps his touch did break the humans’ soul. He wonders, and he fears, and he looks in Dean’s eyes and realizes why he was the one chosen. Castiel sees his own strengths in Dean, his weaknesses, and he sees his own completion. In a single glance, Castiel sees his end, and regret is the one thing he knows he will never feel.


End file.
